Tourniquet
by SweeneyintheNight
Summary: Friendships are one of the most important things in life. One friendship is especially meaningful to a couple of Slytherins. PostHBP


Severus was racing through the halls, laughing at his stumbling friend behind him. "This is what happens when you have too much butter beer, Lu," he called out, barely containing himself.

"I'm not the only one who's a little bit tipsy," Lucius slurred with his trail of hiccups. "What do you find so funny?"

"You when you're drunk!"

"I'm not drunk...okay, maybe a little bit." The dark haired boy let out a strange sound that sounded to be a mixture of a hiccup and laughter. Lucius stumbled up to his friend, clumsily putting a hand on his shoulder. The bleach blonde boy lost his grip and fell to the hard floor. Severus laughed again, but losing his balance in the process, he landed on his buttocks. The two friends looked at each other and started to laugh.

"Look at us!" Lucius said in a bragging manner. "Seventeen years old and we're already getting drunk!"

"Woohoo!" Severus called out. "We gotta do this more often."

"Especially you! I haven't seen you laugh this much since we turned all of the Marauders turn into girls!"

"Oh, I remember that. They remained like that for two whole days!"

"We got in serious trouble, though."

"With who, McGonogall or Potter and Black?"

"Both! Remember when they turned your hair pink?"

"Shut up! They turned your hair green!"

"It's better than pink!" Severus shoved his friend to the ground, the two laughing when Lucius looked like he was kissing the ground. Lucius sat back up and shoved his friend to the ground. When Severus got up, the two were wrestling each other, laughing in the process. The two friends shot up, draped each other's arms around the other's shoulder, and started to walk, or rather stumble, down the hall.

"Have you noticed that we've been inseparable since we first met on that train?" Severus asked.

"Oh yeah," Lucius responded. "People thought that we were a couple until I started dating Narcissa."

"I still think you could have done better with me."

"Oh, do shut up!" The two laughed again, this time letting their hiccups go wild. The two had only gotten drunk at The Three Broomsticks, thanks to their persuasion, hours ago, yet they acted like they were still drinking the many liquids. Maybe it was just because of the fact that it was the very first time the two had ever drunken more than one butter beer. As the two kept on stumbling and holding onto each other, Severus looked at his friend lazily.

"Luci..." Severus said in a sing song voice.

"You know I hate it when you call me that," Lucius replied.

"Which is why I call you it."

"I guess that's a possibility."

"I was going to ask you something before you rudely interrupted me."

"Okay. What was so important that you had to tell me now?"

"Let's make a pact." Lucius looked over at his friend, drawing a strange look on his face. "A what?" he asked stupidly.

"A pact," Severus repeated. "I propose that from this day forward, we will always remain good friends. When one of us is in danger, the other will 'come to his rescue'. Let us vow that our friendship shall never die down, that we will always remain good friends. Agreed?"

"Agreed." The two friends gave each other high fives. When they heard footsteps behind them, they looked at each other and ran. After running all the way to their common room, the two started to laugh.

"Who do you think that was?" Lucius asked.

"Probably Filch," Severus replied. "And his cat wife."

"Good one! Now, do we still have our pact?"

"We still have our pact!"

_I tried to kill the pain  
But only brought more  
I lay dying  
And I'm pouring crimson regret and betrayal  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming  
Am I too lost to be saved  
Am I too lost_

**Twenty-six years later...**

Severus was lying on the hard wooden ground, feeling the pain crawling up his back. He kept on repeating the same words over and over again. "Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me now. Kill me now." The pain was sweeping all over his body, making it nearly impossible to stop. "I WANT TO DIE!" Severus screamed the words as loud as he could, praying for death.

"Get it over with," Severus whispered under his breath. "Please, stop and get it over with. Kill me now! Kill me right now!" Suddenly, a loud bang was heard from the doorway. "Severus!" The pale man knew automatically who was calling out his name.

_My God, my tourniquet  
Return to me, salvation  
My God, my tourniquet  
Return to me, salvation_

"Help me!" Severus cried out in pain. "Lucius! Help me!" The door flew open, leaving the tall blond wizard to race towards his friend. Lucius pointed his wand at Severus. A sudden light was revealed and the dark-haired wizard couldn't feel any more pain. He was breathing hard, lying on the ground, trying to hold back the tears.

Lucius kneeled down and looked at his friend in the eyes. "Lucius," Severus let out. "Thank you."

"It was nothing," Lucius replied, giving his friend a reassuring smile. Suddenly, Severus did something that noone would ever expect him to do. He smiled back. Lucius dug his right hand under Severus' back and helped him sit up.

"Come on," Lucius whispered. "That's it. There. That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"You're starting to treat me like Draco," Severus replied, letting out a sigh of relief.

"I treat all of my friends like this when they're in this type of state."

"What type of state?"

"When they're running from the law."

_Do you remember me  
Lost for so long  
Will you be on the other side_

_Or will you forget me  
I'm dying, praying, bleeding and screaming  
Am I too lost to be saved  
Am I too lost_

"I'm not the only one," Severus let out. "How did you escape from Azkaband anyways?"

"The same way Black escaped," Lucius replied. "It's a matter of outsmarting those not as bright as you."

"I didn't know that there could be any species less bright than Black."

"Neither did I." The two stared at the ground, when Severus looked up at his friend.

"Why are you here?" he asked. "How did you find me?"

"I remember this place," Lucius replied. "The old cottage down by the river where we used to walk. We used to come here all the time, to talk about things in private. This is where I revealed that I was a Death Eater. This is where you revealed that your father used to beat you."

"You still haven't answered my questions."

"This place was special to us. But then I got married and you got your job at Hogwarts. We still saw each other regularly, but never here. I suspected you might be here, in hopes you would find me, your closest friend."

"You still have another question to answer. Why did you come here?" Lucius smirked and looked at his friend.

"Have you forgotten our pact?"

_My God, my tourniquet  
Return to me, salvation  
My God, my tourniquet  
Return to me, salvation_

"Lucius," Severus sighed out. "We were seventeen and drunk. I was probably more drunk than you were."

"That doesn't matter," Lucius said with anger tinged in his voice. "Drunk or not, we made a pact. I would probably make that same vow if we weren't drunk. Our friendship never died in the slightest bit, you were there for me when I was sent to Azkaband, now, I am here for you."

"Luci..."

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

"Which is why I call you it." Lucius and Severus smiled at each other. Suddenly, Lucius gave his friend a hug. The two were embraced for a minute, then broke apart. Severus smiled at his friend and started to laugh. "Who taught you to be so sensitive?" he asked.

"This is what happens when you get married," Lucius replied. The wooden door shattered into a million pieces, showing a blurry figure in the doorway. Even though they were blurry, the two friends could easily make out the figure. Voldemort stepped into the cottage, giving the two friends dirty looks.

"Severus," Voldemort hissed. "I thought I might find you here. And you have a friend. Lucius, I didn't know you were bright enough to escape from that brutal prison."

"What do you want?" Lucius asked.

"What does it look like? Severus, you messed up our plan."

"Does it matter?" Severus asked. "Dumbledore is dead!"

"I don't give a damn! I am unhappy with the death. Very unhappy. I already killed that puny mongrel you call Draco."

"No," Lucius gasped out.

"Now, I'm going to kill you. Avada Kedavra!"

"Severus!" Lucius fell into his friend's arms, letting his long blond hair flow angelically. Severus let out a gasp when he fell, clutching him closely.

_My wounds cry for the grave  
My soul cries for deliverance  
Will I be denied  
Christ, tourniquet_

Hot tears started to pour from Severus' eyes. "No," he whispered out. "No. He can't be. He can't be."

"Looks like he's braver than I thought," Voldemort hissed. "Such a shame. He was one of my favorites. But, I guess if he was willing to die for his friend." Severus kept on letting the tears pour out of his eyes. He glared at Voldemort, grabbed Lucius' wand, and pointed it at his own head.

"What are you doing?" Voldemort hissed.

"My best friend died for me," Severus replied. "It's time to return his favor. Avada Kedavra!" Severus fell to the ground, letting the wand roll to the door. Voldemort glided out of the cottage, smirking at the two.

Narcissa stood at disbelief, screaming out cries of suffering. Harry stared at the bodies, trying to make out what happened. "The teenage girl went out for a walk," he heard voices say. "She said she was mad at her parents, needed to get away from them. She saw the cottage, door wide opened, so she decided to go inside. She saw Snape and Malfoy on the floor dead, so she raced back home hysterically. The parents knew who the two were, being a couple of the most wanted men in the Wizarding World."

Harry was trying to block the rest of the words out. "You should be glad," Ron said, standing next to Harry.

"I didn't want him dead," Harry replied. "I wanted him to be punished, not dead. Especially by Voldemort."

"We don't even know if Voldemort killed them, mate. Besides, they found Draco's body. So, really, the only one who lost anything was Malfoy's mother."

"I guess we'll never know how Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy died."

_My suicide_


End file.
